Wojciech Rusin
Honey for the Ants
Boomkat Product Review:
Rounding off his shockingly good "alchemical trilogy", Wojciech Rusin applies gnostic logic to more labyrinthine electro-acoustic fabrications of modernist sacred music on 'Honey for the Ants', splicing uncanny chorals with utopian electronic outbursts and his signature arsenal of home-made instrumental tonalities. Nowt else quite like it.
If you caught either of London-based, Poland-born composer and 3D-printed pipe maker Wojciech Rusin's last two albums (2022's 'Syphon' and 2019's 'The Funnel') then you'll already be prepared for this one. He finishes the story by shuffling forward on the timeline; if the first installment examined medieval compositional techniques and sonorities and 'Syphon' focused on the renaissance, 'Honey for the Ants' adds modernism to the canon, integrating more percussion and further modalities. Emmy Broughton, who sang 'Syphon' highlight 'Words into Shapes', appears on 'Magus', operatically cooing bizarre digital-age lyrics ("witness this cyber transaction") over reedy organ chords that mutate into slippery electronics. Rusin keeps animating the narrative, adding eerie woodblock cracks, brassy swells and oscillations that bend unsettlingly around Broughton's voice, eventually ordered into a Ligeti-like chorus of anxious wails.
Not ignoring the romantic era entirely, Rusin tips his hat to fin de siècle-era Western Europe on 'Behind the Palazzo', gradually losing a mushy solo piano performance in clouds of distortion. He pushes the thought further on 'Gifts for the Surgeon', retaining the piano's aesthetic resonance and adding a swaying vocal that's disrupted by digital chemtrails and boxy, Victrola-era reverb. It's remarkable how well his treatment, already impressive when applied to music that's much further away from us, works with material that's almost overfamiliar - referenced and repeatedly unravelled in soundtracks, contemporary operas and concert halls. Rusin's hand is subtle - just peep the ghosted synths that swirl around a tight ensemble and dramatic vocal on 'Carpathian Stone Spinners' - and he's able to balance out these narrative beats with more surreal gestures that underline his mystical subtext.
'Kittens meet Puppies for the First Time' is a particularly clever moment, when galloping ad-tarnished orchestrals are replaced by clattering polyrhythms that sound somewhere between castanets and popping bubbles, trembling over malleable, muffled ambience. Rusin isn't repurposing and juxtaposing these sounds for his own sake; by connecting them to the timeline he laid out on the album's predecessors, he emphasises the ritualistic ecstasy that continues to ferment beneath various era-specific aesthetic curlicues. That's never more evident than on the finale, 'Even the Moon', when he turns a robotic voice into an squelchy, acidic lead, using orchestra pit percussion to shift imperceptibly from a march to a more intrusive overdriven 4/4. It's over in a moment, but it isn't a conceptually pushy move - Rusin's urging us to draw our own conclusions and pick out the through-lines for ourselves.
View more
Boomkat Product Review:
Rounding off his shockingly good "alchemical trilogy", Wojciech Rusin applies gnostic logic to more labyrinthine electro-acoustic fabrications of modernist sacred music on 'Honey for the Ants', splicing uncanny chorals with utopian electronic outbursts and his signature arsenal of home-made instrumental tonalities. Nowt else quite like it.
If you caught either of London-based, Poland-born composer and 3D-printed pipe maker Wojciech Rusin's last two albums (2022's 'Syphon' and 2019's 'The Funnel') then you'll already be prepared for this one. He finishes the story by shuffling forward on the timeline; if the first installment examined medieval compositional techniques and sonorities and 'Syphon' focused on the renaissance, 'Honey for the Ants' adds modernism to the canon, integrating more percussion and further modalities. Emmy Broughton, who sang 'Syphon' highlight 'Words into Shapes', appears on 'Magus', operatically cooing bizarre digital-age lyrics ("witness this cyber transaction") over reedy organ chords that mutate into slippery electronics. Rusin keeps animating the narrative, adding eerie woodblock cracks, brassy swells and oscillations that bend unsettlingly around Broughton's voice, eventually ordered into a Ligeti-like chorus of anxious wails.
Not ignoring the romantic era entirely, Rusin tips his hat to fin de siècle-era Western Europe on 'Behind the Palazzo', gradually losing a mushy solo piano performance in clouds of distortion. He pushes the thought further on 'Gifts for the Surgeon', retaining the piano's aesthetic resonance and adding a swaying vocal that's disrupted by digital chemtrails and boxy, Victrola-era reverb. It's remarkable how well his treatment, already impressive when applied to music that's much further away from us, works with material that's almost overfamiliar - referenced and repeatedly unravelled in soundtracks, contemporary operas and concert halls. Rusin's hand is subtle - just peep the ghosted synths that swirl around a tight ensemble and dramatic vocal on 'Carpathian Stone Spinners' - and he's able to balance out these narrative beats with more surreal gestures that underline his mystical subtext.
'Kittens meet Puppies for the First Time' is a particularly clever moment, when galloping ad-tarnished orchestrals are replaced by clattering polyrhythms that sound somewhere between castanets and popping bubbles, trembling over malleable, muffled ambience. Rusin isn't repurposing and juxtaposing these sounds for his own sake; by connecting them to the timeline he laid out on the album's predecessors, he emphasises the ritualistic ecstasy that continues to ferment beneath various era-specific aesthetic curlicues. That's never more evident than on the finale, 'Even the Moon', when he turns a robotic voice into an squelchy, acidic lead, using orchestra pit percussion to shift imperceptibly from a march to a more intrusive overdriven 4/4. It's over in a moment, but it isn't a conceptually pushy move - Rusin's urging us to draw our own conclusions and pick out the through-lines for ourselves.
Boomkat Product Review:
Rounding off his shockingly good "alchemical trilogy", Wojciech Rusin applies gnostic logic to more labyrinthine electro-acoustic fabrications of modernist sacred music on 'Honey for the Ants', splicing uncanny chorals with utopian electronic outbursts and his signature arsenal of home-made instrumental tonalities. Nowt else quite like it.
If you caught either of London-based, Poland-born composer and 3D-printed pipe maker Wojciech Rusin's last two albums (2022's 'Syphon' and 2019's 'The Funnel') then you'll already be prepared for this one. He finishes the story by shuffling forward on the timeline; if the first installment examined medieval compositional techniques and sonorities and 'Syphon' focused on the renaissance, 'Honey for the Ants' adds modernism to the canon, integrating more percussion and further modalities. Emmy Broughton, who sang 'Syphon' highlight 'Words into Shapes', appears on 'Magus', operatically cooing bizarre digital-age lyrics ("witness this cyber transaction") over reedy organ chords that mutate into slippery electronics. Rusin keeps animating the narrative, adding eerie woodblock cracks, brassy swells and oscillations that bend unsettlingly around Broughton's voice, eventually ordered into a Ligeti-like chorus of anxious wails.
Not ignoring the romantic era entirely, Rusin tips his hat to fin de siècle-era Western Europe on 'Behind the Palazzo', gradually losing a mushy solo piano performance in clouds of distortion. He pushes the thought further on 'Gifts for the Surgeon', retaining the piano's aesthetic resonance and adding a swaying vocal that's disrupted by digital chemtrails and boxy, Victrola-era reverb. It's remarkable how well his treatment, already impressive when applied to music that's much further away from us, works with material that's almost overfamiliar - referenced and repeatedly unravelled in soundtracks, contemporary operas and concert halls. Rusin's hand is subtle - just peep the ghosted synths that swirl around a tight ensemble and dramatic vocal on 'Carpathian Stone Spinners' - and he's able to balance out these narrative beats with more surreal gestures that underline his mystical subtext.
'Kittens meet Puppies for the First Time' is a particularly clever moment, when galloping ad-tarnished orchestrals are replaced by clattering polyrhythms that sound somewhere between castanets and popping bubbles, trembling over malleable, muffled ambience. Rusin isn't repurposing and juxtaposing these sounds for his own sake; by connecting them to the timeline he laid out on the album's predecessors, he emphasises the ritualistic ecstasy that continues to ferment beneath various era-specific aesthetic curlicues. That's never more evident than on the finale, 'Even the Moon', when he turns a robotic voice into an squelchy, acidic lead, using orchestra pit percussion to shift imperceptibly from a march to a more intrusive overdriven 4/4. It's over in a moment, but it isn't a conceptually pushy move - Rusin's urging us to draw our own conclusions and pick out the through-lines for ourselves.
Boomkat Product Review:
Rounding off his shockingly good "alchemical trilogy", Wojciech Rusin applies gnostic logic to more labyrinthine electro-acoustic fabrications of modernist sacred music on 'Honey for the Ants', splicing uncanny chorals with utopian electronic outbursts and his signature arsenal of home-made instrumental tonalities. Nowt else quite like it.
If you caught either of London-based, Poland-born composer and 3D-printed pipe maker Wojciech Rusin's last two albums (2022's 'Syphon' and 2019's 'The Funnel') then you'll already be prepared for this one. He finishes the story by shuffling forward on the timeline; if the first installment examined medieval compositional techniques and sonorities and 'Syphon' focused on the renaissance, 'Honey for the Ants' adds modernism to the canon, integrating more percussion and further modalities. Emmy Broughton, who sang 'Syphon' highlight 'Words into Shapes', appears on 'Magus', operatically cooing bizarre digital-age lyrics ("witness this cyber transaction") over reedy organ chords that mutate into slippery electronics. Rusin keeps animating the narrative, adding eerie woodblock cracks, brassy swells and oscillations that bend unsettlingly around Broughton's voice, eventually ordered into a Ligeti-like chorus of anxious wails.
Not ignoring the romantic era entirely, Rusin tips his hat to fin de siècle-era Western Europe on 'Behind the Palazzo', gradually losing a mushy solo piano performance in clouds of distortion. He pushes the thought further on 'Gifts for the Surgeon', retaining the piano's aesthetic resonance and adding a swaying vocal that's disrupted by digital chemtrails and boxy, Victrola-era reverb. It's remarkable how well his treatment, already impressive when applied to music that's much further away from us, works with material that's almost overfamiliar - referenced and repeatedly unravelled in soundtracks, contemporary operas and concert halls. Rusin's hand is subtle - just peep the ghosted synths that swirl around a tight ensemble and dramatic vocal on 'Carpathian Stone Spinners' - and he's able to balance out these narrative beats with more surreal gestures that underline his mystical subtext.
'Kittens meet Puppies for the First Time' is a particularly clever moment, when galloping ad-tarnished orchestrals are replaced by clattering polyrhythms that sound somewhere between castanets and popping bubbles, trembling over malleable, muffled ambience. Rusin isn't repurposing and juxtaposing these sounds for his own sake; by connecting them to the timeline he laid out on the album's predecessors, he emphasises the ritualistic ecstasy that continues to ferment beneath various era-specific aesthetic curlicues. That's never more evident than on the finale, 'Even the Moon', when he turns a robotic voice into an squelchy, acidic lead, using orchestra pit percussion to shift imperceptibly from a march to a more intrusive overdriven 4/4. It's over in a moment, but it isn't a conceptually pushy move - Rusin's urging us to draw our own conclusions and pick out the through-lines for ourselves.
Available To Order (Estimated Shipping between 7-14 Working Days)
This item is to the best of our knowledge available to us from the supplier and should ship to you within the time-frame indicated. If there are any unforeseen issues with availability we will notify you immediately
Boomkat Product Review:
Rounding off his shockingly good "alchemical trilogy", Wojciech Rusin applies gnostic logic to more labyrinthine electro-acoustic fabrications of modernist sacred music on 'Honey for the Ants', splicing uncanny chorals with utopian electronic outbursts and his signature arsenal of home-made instrumental tonalities. Nowt else quite like it.
If you caught either of London-based, Poland-born composer and 3D-printed pipe maker Wojciech Rusin's last two albums (2022's 'Syphon' and 2019's 'The Funnel') then you'll already be prepared for this one. He finishes the story by shuffling forward on the timeline; if the first installment examined medieval compositional techniques and sonorities and 'Syphon' focused on the renaissance, 'Honey for the Ants' adds modernism to the canon, integrating more percussion and further modalities. Emmy Broughton, who sang 'Syphon' highlight 'Words into Shapes', appears on 'Magus', operatically cooing bizarre digital-age lyrics ("witness this cyber transaction") over reedy organ chords that mutate into slippery electronics. Rusin keeps animating the narrative, adding eerie woodblock cracks, brassy swells and oscillations that bend unsettlingly around Broughton's voice, eventually ordered into a Ligeti-like chorus of anxious wails.
Not ignoring the romantic era entirely, Rusin tips his hat to fin de siècle-era Western Europe on 'Behind the Palazzo', gradually losing a mushy solo piano performance in clouds of distortion. He pushes the thought further on 'Gifts for the Surgeon', retaining the piano's aesthetic resonance and adding a swaying vocal that's disrupted by digital chemtrails and boxy, Victrola-era reverb. It's remarkable how well his treatment, already impressive when applied to music that's much further away from us, works with material that's almost overfamiliar - referenced and repeatedly unravelled in soundtracks, contemporary operas and concert halls. Rusin's hand is subtle - just peep the ghosted synths that swirl around a tight ensemble and dramatic vocal on 'Carpathian Stone Spinners' - and he's able to balance out these narrative beats with more surreal gestures that underline his mystical subtext.
'Kittens meet Puppies for the First Time' is a particularly clever moment, when galloping ad-tarnished orchestrals are replaced by clattering polyrhythms that sound somewhere between castanets and popping bubbles, trembling over malleable, muffled ambience. Rusin isn't repurposing and juxtaposing these sounds for his own sake; by connecting them to the timeline he laid out on the album's predecessors, he emphasises the ritualistic ecstasy that continues to ferment beneath various era-specific aesthetic curlicues. That's never more evident than on the finale, 'Even the Moon', when he turns a robotic voice into an squelchy, acidic lead, using orchestra pit percussion to shift imperceptibly from a march to a more intrusive overdriven 4/4. It's over in a moment, but it isn't a conceptually pushy move - Rusin's urging us to draw our own conclusions and pick out the through-lines for ourselves.
More from Wojciech Rusin:
-
Wojciech Rusin Hands of a Despot AD 93 Modern Classical / Ambient- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
-
Wojciech Rusin Behind the Palazzo AD 93 Modern Classical / Ambient
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLWojciech Rusin Syphon AD 93 Modern Classical / Ambient
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- Tape
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLWojciech Rusin Rufus Orbis Boomkat Editions | Documenting Sound Electronic
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- Cassette
-
Wojciech Rusin The Funnel Akashic Records Electronic
- LP
More from AD 93:
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLYHWH Nailgun 45 Pounds AD 93 Electronic
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- LP (Black Vinyl)
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLOren Ambarchi & Eric Thielemans Kind Regards AD 93 Modern Classical / Ambient
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- LP (Black Vinyl)
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLGAISTER GAISTER AD 93 Modern Classical / Ambient
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- LP (Black Vinyl)
-
YHWH Nailgun Sickle Walk AD 93 Electronic
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLMoin You Never End AD 93 Indie / Alternative
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- LP (Black Vinyl)
People who bought this also bought:
-
Nozomu Matsumoto Phonocentrism Longform Editions Modern Classical / Ambient
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
-
Ryan Teague Collected Piano Works King Tree Modern Classical / Ambient
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLYara Asmar Home Recordings 2018 - 2021 Hive Mind Records Modern Classical / Ambient
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- Cassette
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLDONATO DOZZY Magda Spazio Disponibile Modern Classical / Ambient
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- 2LP (Black Vinyl)
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLBERNARD PARMEGIANI De Natura Sonorum RECOLLECTION GRM Electronic
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- 2LP (Black Vinyl)
-
Dinosaur (Arthur Russell++) Kiss Me Again Week-End Records Disco / Boogie / Funk
- 12" (Black Vinyl)
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLCoil The Ape Of Naples Important Records Industrial / Wave / Electro
- 2LP (Black Vinyl)
- CD
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLNozomu Matsumoto Climatotherapy The Death Of Rave Electronic
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- LP
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLCarla dal Forno Look Up Sharp Kallista Electronic
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- LP (Black Vinyl)
- CD
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLNozomu Matsumoto Sustainable Hours - Soundtrack for installation by Nile Koetting The Death Of Rave Electronic
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV